"In today's environment, we have to. You can't just blow off something like that," said Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton, who estimated 40 to 50 people were on the case. His investigators and K-9 officers, Pittsburgh city police and FBI agents were all involved.

It was said to have happened just before 3 p.m. near East Hills Drive and Frankstown Road, where the city of Pittsburgh borders with Penn Hills.

"That was part of the issue yesterday. Because they're so close, we didn't know what was happening where, so the city actually got the original call," Burton said. "On their investigation, they found out that it may have occurred in Penn Hills, so then we activate our people to go down and work with the city."

The girl was reportedly seen being snatched into a white van in an alleyway along Frankstown Road. Police responded to a 911 call made by a 13-year-old witness in that area. She told her father that the girl screamed for help and struggled to get away from her alleged attacker, but was overpowered.

"She said the dude had a hand over her mouth and was just pulling her, and she was trying to get my daughter to come up there, and my daughter is feeling bad about that, but she called me as it was happening, and I said, 'Hurry up to the house and call 911,' " the father said.

The child witness was questioned by local police and the FBI, who concluded that her report was not true. Burton said it's frustrating to spend so much manpower to investigate something that never happened.

"They're doing something here that they should be doing somewhere else. We're pulling them from details and other jobs, taking them out of their area where crime may occur that they'd have to respond to that crime area. So, yeah, they were on regular duty, but it's still taking all these resources to work on something like this," Burton said. "You wonder why people do that. They don't understand the ramifications -- the ripple effect that it may have throughout the community."

Pittsburgh Lt. Kevin Kraus said police are talking with the district attorney to see if any charges will be filed.